1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a musical instrument and more specifically relates to a device that in one embodiment generates digital commands that in turn are interpreted by something else to generate a sound with specific parameters or to control musical expression or other control functions that are useful in a performance setting and in another embodiment generates note tones itself.
2. Prior Art
Until the advent of an electronic means to generate sound, all musical instruments were designed to create sound by means of mechanical vibrations. This requirement constrains the physical interface of the instrument and imposes certain requirements on the musician (i.e, a louder note requires harder key presses or more breath pressure). The generation of music electronically opens up many more possibilities for musical expression, and since the invention of standard control interfaces such as the MIDI format, there now exists a new category of electronic musical instruments that are used to generate digital information regarding musical notes and expression. MIDI is by far the predominant format in this medium, but MIDI was primarily devised with the human interface of a keyboard and music synthesizer in mind. The piano-like keys of a typical synthesizer are used as switches to activate and silence note commands and the velocity of the keystroke can be measured to determine the loudness of the note.
The MIDI control language allows for other commands for the purposes of musical expression with a common one being a spring-centered slider wheel that is used to control pitch bend. This feature adds a level of expression to a keyboard that cannot be achieved with a piano, and there are other ways to influence the sound created by a keypress. These other controls are typically in the form of sliders and knobs mounted on the keyboard. But there are other innovative means to control the sound generated, such as the use of Hall effect switches in a guitar-like musical instrument (U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,690 issued to Aitken et al. entitled “Electronic Musical Instrument”), the combination of piano-like keys with a guitar-like synthesizer (U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,838 issued to James F. Corrigau, III entitled “Constantly Changing Polyphonic Pitch Controller”), electrically resistive elements in a guitar-like synthesizer with strings to detect sideways deflection of the string (U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,887 issued to Steven C. Marshall entitled “Electric Musical String Instruments and Frets Therefore”) and infrared beams in a guitar controller for a music synthesizer where the infrared beams are reflected off a diaphragm in a breath controller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,479 issued to Carmine Bonanno entitled “Guitar Controller”) or in a keyboard expression generator where the infrared beams are reflected off of keyboard members (U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,999 issued to Carmine Bonanno entitled “Programmable Synthesizer.” With few exceptions, these devices to make or influence sound do not themselves have a plethora of integrated features such as the ability, in combination with producing musical notes and without limitation, to determine, influence or change the sound, quality, voice, volume or other characteristics of a note, activate and coordinate the replay of stored loops, record, edit and play user created pieces previously produced and control peripheral devices such as lighting all in a manner that is useful in a performance setting or in a manner that mimics or is compatible with the actions a musician takes to make or perform music and that simultaneously allows the user to add expressiveness to the notes that they are playing.
There are many examples of MIDI controllers that either adapt a conventional instrument or model the shape and performance of one. Generally, these controllers suffer in comparison to the original instrument in terms of expressiveness or have technical limitations. For example, guitar-to-MIDI converters must spend a finite amount of time in calculating the incoming note and this introduces a delay between the played note and the sound produced.
There is another category of MIDI controllers that are not bound to the model of existing instruments. This category can in turn be divided into two main classifications. The first are defined as devices that are used to influence the sound of notes that are generated independently. The second classification can be defined as devices that are used to generate the note tones. Sometimes these two functions are combined into one device but most commonly are separate.
The Midi interface standard allows for a great deal of flexibility in that messages from a keyboard can be used to control the playing of musical notes or can be used to control a variety of other functions. For example, a certain key on a musical instrument can be used to generate a musical note such as middle C, or can be “mapped” to instead trigger a pre-stored sequence of musical notes for accompaniment. This pre-stored sequence is often referred to as a loop since it is typically a short musical or percussion sequence that continuously loops.
There exist a number of software programs that are typically executed on personal computers that make it possible to manage this key mapping. In the example just given, the program will normally play the middle C note when the associated key is pressed, but this key can instead be assigned to trigger a loop that is under control of the program. This allows for a range of keys to be assigned to trigger background patterns while the unassigned keys play accompanying notes. The problem with this method is that whenever a key is assigned to a function other than note playing, that key is then unavailable for playing notes.
With just a few keys assigned to other functions, there is not a big problem since these keys can be at the extreme lower or upper range of a keyboard where notes are seldom played. However, it is often desirable to be able to trigger a wide range of loops, and this becomes impossible as the number of practically available keys is exceeded.
This proliferation of music in digital form along with the ubiquitous presence of personal computers has established the PC as a familiar way to manipulate music files. The majority of these PC applications are centered on organizing and downloading existing songs that are typically played back using portable devices such as Apple Computer's Ipod® devices. However, there is another category of PC software applications that are intended for the active creation or modification of digital music.
These programs make use of the power of modem computers to make it possible for those with limited musical knowledge to produce original music. This can be done through software programs that can “remix” existing songs in novel ways for “DJ” like settings.
There are other popular programs that enable a user to have more control over the generation of music in a very easy-to-learn fashion. Examples of this category include the Garage Band® program for use on Apple®™ computers. This concept of creating music on a PC also ties in with the growing popularity of “Podcasting” or “MySpace” sites in which an amateur musician has outlets for personally created, original music. The problem with these kinds of program is that a standard keyboard and mouse are used to control the creation and playback of the music, and even when used with an electronic keyboard, this presents a very non-musical interface that makes it difficult and non-intuitive for the process of music generation and control, especially for those with no prior musical experience. This is a problem in need of a solution.
There are musical devices that are an array of multiplexed switches. An example of such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,057 entitled “Electronic Keyboard Instrument” issued to Harvey W. Starr on Sep. 17, 1996. This patent describes an electronic musical instrument that is generally guitar shaped (i.e, has a body and an extended neck). Instead of having strings strung along the neck like a guitar, the device has a fingerboard with an array of keys with a key at each position corresponding to each string/fret position in a traditional guitar. When the user touches a key, a signal is produced and sent to a central processing unit that produces an appropriate sound that is then sent to an output.
Although this device has an array of keys and a series of key, push buttons, pads and switches, it still requires the user to manipulate the device in a fashion very similar to manipulating a guitar (i.e., one hand grasping the neck and playing notes off of the neck while the other hand manipulates the keys, push buttons, pads and switches on the body of the instrument).
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for devices that generate digital commands that in turn are interpreted by something else to generate a sound with specific parameters or control musical expression or other control functions that are useful in a performance setting or generate note tones itself that mimics or is compatible with the actions a musician takes to make or perform music and that allows the user to add expressiveness to the notes that they are playing.